I recently went to Austin for the sixth annual NAHBS, the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. It was a hyper-sensory experience that no blog post, video, or photo gallery could synthesize. The handshakes and conversations seemed like a delight for the builders who spend much of their time working in solitude.

The show has grown steadily, with with 6 builders in 2005 and 126 builders in 2011. You won’t see Trek, Specialized, or Giant there, but you’ll see innovation and exquisite detail from backyard builders and established companies alike. There are competitive awards, but there’s a spirt that everyone wants everyone to win.

I rode around Austin with the folks from Path Less Pedaled and EcoVelo. We explored Austin together: food trailers, coffee shops, bars, markets. Woven into the conference were group rides, free barbecue, free beer, seminars, and hundreds of new faces to remember. I asked many framebuilders how they got into the craft, and I heard a range of inspiring stories. Some went to school for it, some figured it out on their own, and some apprenticed with masters. My favorite experiences from the show were spontaneous conversations with the builders. They want you to ask questions.

I took 1200 photos, but I filtered examples from these down to three topics: detail, people, favorites.

Detail is everything at NAHBS. You have full access to scrutinize detail from inches away. You can reach out and feel the craftsmanship. I left thousands of fingerprints. I saw amazing welds and brazed lugs, wooden wheels, a light mounted by a bent spoke, clever cable routing through frames, and some amazing paint jobs.

Click on the mural below for the flickr set of detail examples:

I loved the human experience of NAHBS. I talked to builders, racers, fans, and writers. We rode together, ate together, and I was impressed how many builders brought family, including kids (who didn’t look bored). ANT and Bilenky come to mind. Here’s Betsy Scola of ANT.

I met all the folks in the below mural, so you can click through if you’d like to know who they are. They are builders, friends, volunteers, cooks, journalists, advocates, and a Tour Divide 2011 contender.

Click on the mural below for the flickr set of people:

Picking overall show favorites is hard, so I forced myself to choose 3, and I posted 6 photos of each.

In the top row of photos below are Philosophy Bags, an Oregon small business that makes timeless and simple bags. They sandwiched a waterproof layer between the cotton layers, so these bags don’t look as adventure-bikey as an Ortlieb or similar brands. At $100+, they’re not cheap, but they’re American made and classy.

The middle row of photos features Shamrock Cycles‘ Celtic-Cross bike, which at first glance looks like a touring rig. As the builder explained, the integrated fenders and racks come off quickly (via beautiful knobs and leather washers) and the bike quickly becomes a cyclocross race machine.

The bottom row of photos shows off the Yipsan Bicycles city bike. Renold Yip really blew some retro-grouch minds with the convertible porteur and pannier rack. In porteur mode, it’s flat and wide and you can carry a big heavy load of newspaper and books. In pannier mode, it’s narrow, but it has side supports for low-slung touring baggage.

Click on the mural below for the flickr set of my favorites:

There’s more, but I’ll take a break and wait before posting other content from the show. I managed to get photos of some tasty bikes in the free valet, which was popular and free for all the attendees.

There’s no shortage of NAHBS bike bling coverage out there, so I thought it’d be nice to feature some of great people I’ve met and talked with.

Yesterday, I had lunch with Russ and Laura of Path Less Pedaled at Frank. Russ and Laura came through Denton last year on their whirlwind US bike tour, and they made some new friends here in town.

Notice the tiny Brompton folding bikes between the booth seats. They just picked those up here in Austin at NAHBS and their next trans-America adventure will feature the downsized wheels and unbeatable portability. Between the Bromptons and Amtrak, the new trip will have a pretty awesome and unique flavor. The idea is definitely infectious, and now I really want a folder!

Next Thursday, we’ll be heading down to Austin for the 2011 North American Handmade Bicycle Show. Countless artisan builders will be showing off bikes of all materials: steel, carbon, aluminum, titanium, bamboo. Like the bike above, there will be plenty of awesome practical and classy stuff; this isn’t just for racing gearheads.

What it won’t be is a typical showroom with Trek, Giant, Specialized, Bianchi, etc. What it will be is a celebration of handcrafted ingenuity, intricate detail, and graceful designs. It’s the best of the best, the bleeding edge, the stuff that big companies will copy. These builders value quality over quantity, and we can’t wait to see what they’ve been working on. There are seminars as well, for those who want to hear from top minds about brazing, welding, and running a bike-building business.

Some of my favorite builders in attendance are Vanilla (so popular they’re backordered 5 years), Ira Ryan, ANT, Geekhouse, Indy Fab, Bilenky, and Alchemy. Local DFW builders Gallus and Daltex will be there. Kinda makes me wish Denton had a builder on the exhibitor list. Our friends Russ and Laura from PathLessPedaled will be there, and I look forward to drinking a pint with them again. The excitement is palpable. This is going to be awesome.